Headquartered at Arnold Air Force Base in middle Tennessee, with operating locations at the Federal Research Center at White Oak, Maryland; Ames Research Center, Mountain View and Edwards AFB, California; Eglin AFB, Florida; Hill AFB, Utah; Holloman AFB and Kirtland AFB, New Mexico; and Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, AEDC offers a suite of test capabilities to simulate speed, temperature, pressure and other parameters over a wide range to meet the needs of aerospace system developers.

Facilities can simulate flight conditions from sea level to 300 miles and from subsonic velocities to Mach 20.

The AEDC is an Air Force Materiel Command facility and an important national resource. It has contributed to the development of practically every one of the nation’s top priority aerospace programs including the Atlas, Titan, Minuteman and Peacekeeper ICBMs, the space shuttle, space station, and Projects Mercury, Gemini and Apollo.

Customers include the Department of Defense, Army, Navy and Air Force organizations; the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, both domestic and foreign private industry, allied foreign governments and educational institutions.

AEDC is named for the man responsible for its conception — General of the Air Force Henry H. “Hap” Arnold. Shortly before the end of World War II, General Arnold asked Dr. Theodore von Karman, one of history’s great aeronautical scientists, to form a Scientific Advisory Group to chart a long-range research and development course for the future U.S. Air Force. AEDC was a result of that plan.

AEDC strives to:· Test and evaluate aircraft, missile and space systems and subsystems at the flight conditions they will experience during a mission to: help customers develop and qualify the systems for flight, improve system designs and establish performance before production, and to help users troubleshoot problems with operational systems;

· Conduct a research and technology program to develop advanced testing techniques and instrumentation and to support the design of new test facilities. The continual improvement helps satisfy testing needs and keeps pace with rapidly advancing aircraft, missile and space system requirements;